Thought I'd start a new thread and add my thoughts as the speakers breakin some. The RL's have about 20 hours on them now. And the bass is coming, it's tighting up a bit and goes a little deeper now. Still don't have consistance through the whole range yet but they show promise. I am runing the RL's with what I consider to be top notch gear. Dodson 218 DAC, Dodd Audio 120 watt el34 monos and a transcendent GG pre. As I have mentioned in another thread here I have purchased a Transcendent Sound Super compact pair of mono blocks. I am upgradeing the parts and will have them cryoed before puting them into my system. They will be approx. 100 watts through two (PP) octal base 509 II's. If this works out I will have my whole system cryoed maybe even the drivers, will have to talk with Bob Z. first. Guy

Playn,I've made it very clear on these boards that the RL-3 was the best speaker at DecFest last Oct. and that it is the best sound stage presentation I've EVER heard. Very smooth midrange and tonally balanced and Ziggy then commenced to actually "improve" what I thought was the most enjoyable sonic experience I've ever had surounded by four walls. I gushed on and on about it after the "Fest" and still to this day those speakers performance Sun. night at DecFest last year haunt my memory. My biggest thing with speakers has always been tranparency and after that imaging and tonal balance. Well the RL-3 on that night with the TORII hit a homerun in my book on all three counts and has made the focus of my audio quest imaging imaging imaging for the last 10 months. And to do that without compromising the other 2 qualities I mentioned is quite a feat and I have learned that through the extensive listening I've done with various full range Fostex "favorites" discussed all over these forums. All with that memory of the RL-3 niggling in the back of my mind. I believe the tonal balance and bass will be the biggest improvement over breakin time.So my question is how is the imaging and sound stage?

Hi Chris, the imaging is coming along as well. Sometimes its spooky good and other times its just average. Everything kinda comes and goes right now. Which is why I thought it would be a good time to tweak my equipment and let the speakers break in. I keep compareing them to my K-horns, the K-horns imaged good but not great or great but you had to be in one spot to get it. But what they did excell at was the effortless sound, they sound live and load the room to perfection. Also being tuched in the conners they didn't take up much room. I will let the speakers run this week while I'm at work this should put enough time on them. As always thanks for you thoughts and encouragement. All the best, Guy

My RL3's are running in nicely. Despite it's apparent 100 hours, I think it'll need a further 50 or so hours as it's still improving. I've got a DVD's worth of mp3 files which I'll run while I'm at work. That should give them about an extra 6-8 hours a day.

I do agree you, Guy, with regard to the space the RL3s take up. My Horns placed into the corner just visually disappear. The RL3s do need the space to "breath" and potentially dominate a smaller room. I've move the RL3 a further 6 inches into the room (3' 6" from front wall) which has cleaned up the bass notes a little further. I'd like to move the speakers further but I have to live in the room! >:(

One thing I've noticed is that the setup that makes my Horns sound edgy, doesn't when used with the RL3s. Using the setup that makes the Horns sound good makes the RL3s sound overy smooth and undynamic. You may have to rearrange you setup considerably as you may have the same issues with the KHorns.

I cut out 2 x 7" circles from an old sheepskin rug and placed them under each RL3. This introduced about an inch of fleece under the passive radiators and I then rejigged the RL3s' placement and toein. This resulted in the taming of all the bass issues I talked about.

Well, tonight has been a bit of a watershed for my RL3 experience:Superb soundstaging, clean bass and weight and authority to all instruments. Pretty much an out of the body experience and not noticing hifi my listening to music. Just simple getting connected with the performance.

The system of Audionote CDT2 + Ack dAck + CSP + F1 and the RL3 was working superbly together with the anticables, anti inters.

Geogre, thats great to hear, how many hours to think your speakers have on them now? I have boxed all of my gear (Transcendent sc150 monos, Ground Grid pre, Dodson DAC all cables, cords and interconects) as well as a couple of CDS to send off to the cryo place on Monday. I won't have anything back until the end of next week at the earliest. So I have a Teac 700 about 30 watts of tripath power runing directly from my SATV box. I will use this setup on the music stations to continue to break in the speakers until my stuff gets back. If you have the time I would love to hear a more detailed report on what your hearing from your speakers. All the best, Guy

I can't be totally accurate on how long the the RL3's have been running but I've had them for about 18 days and played them around 3 hours a day - so it's been on in my system at least 54 hours. I understand from Ziggy that they've been running on his system for an additional 100 hours.

I'll try to give some further details as I go along but for the moment I'll give an indication of yesterdays experience. From time to time, I've got together a set up that puts me in the "zone". It's the space where the sounds/instruments/voices are hanging in the air but most significantly, I'm NOT noticing these qualities but just listening and enjoying the music. I feel connected to the music and the performer.

I've had this experience before with a couple of my other set up:1) My Maggies with ATC SIA150 and Meridian CDP2) My Hornshoppe Horns with Decware Select, Meridian as transport and SN DAC3) My Hornshoppe Horns with the F1, Passive Pre and Audionote CDT2 + Ack dAck.

My current setup got me the feeling of being in the "zone" last night but this time with more apparent accuracy and "body".

Thanks for the update. I can't wait to get my equipment back the speakers are starting to break in. I think my only fear is going to be is the bass low enough and will they play loud enough. Hmmmmmmmm ???

Ok, sorry its been a while. I have been getting my equipment back from the cryo place one piece at a time This Thursday I should have my amps back which will be the last items. But I have to share with you the 3.0's are sounding fantastic , With Steve D and Bob Z's help (thank you guys) I have been working on room treatment and this has improved the bass big time! Now, I have a long way to go with the room but life is good. I will report back once the amps get here. I can't wait

Hey George, First I have to say if you get the chance to cryo your equipment run don't walk! The Radials to me are truly magical at volumes of 90db or lower. I don't think there is a speaker that can beat them.

I am going over to a friends house hopfully today with my amps and DAC ( Dodson 2 1 8 ) and we are going to hook them up to is K-Honrs. This will be the final comparison for me. I may find the horns to sound bad after listening to the Radials for a month now ??? But you know how it is I remember all the good things the K-honrs did and probably have forgotten the bad points.

For 90% of my listening the Radials are GREAT, the only issue I have is when I what to hit the volume, turn my amps to 11 (spinal tap) LOL IMHO the speakers fade quickly

Bob Z has spent a lot of time with me on the phone (thank you Bob) and we have talked about adding a WO or WO32 to releave the Radials at about 50 hz but I am starting to think that would be a waste. They sound wonderful down to about oh I would guess 35 hz, as long as you don't turn them up to high.

Audio is a journey thats for sure and we all take different paths. The most important thing is that we enjoy our journeys. I will report back once I have heard the K-horns again. All the best, Guy